House Passes Bioterrorism Bill

WASHINGTON (Reuters Health) Dec 12 - The US House of Representatives on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved a $2.9 billion dollar bill intended to better prepare the nation for a potential bioterror attack.

The vote was 417-2.

"This legislation is all about safety and security of American families and of our country," said Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and one of the lead sponsors of the bill.

Rep. Greg Ganske, R-Iowa, a physician, said the bill goes a long way towards helping the nation catch up with a bioterror threat that has become all too real since September 11. "We need to provide more funds for medicines and vaccines. We need to bolster the CDC," he said, referring to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, whose staff has led the nation's fight against anthrax. "We need to facilitate communications between the federal government, the state governments, local governments. Those things are handled in this bill."

The measure calls for roughly $1 billion for state and local governments to improve communications systems, increase laboratory capacity, and train personnel to detect and respond to bioterror attacks. Included in that is $40 million to recruit and hire additional health professionals in areas with critical shortages.

Another $1 billion would purchase more drugs and vaccines for the federal government's national pharmaceutical stockpile, including enough smallpox vaccine for every American.

The bill also calls for $450 million to upgrade facilities at the CDC. "They are operating in Quonset huts built in the 1940s," said Rep. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., at a news conference held on Tuesday to highlight the need for CDC funds. "There are literally shower curtains hanging over million-dollar pieces of equipment to keep the rain from falling on them. It's ridiculous."

The House and Senate have separately approved bioterrorism packages as part of emergency spending bills. The House version would provide an additional $2 billion dollars while the Senate version, passed last Friday, would provide $3.1 billion. That bill is currently before a House-Senate conference committee.

But sponsors of the House authorization bill noted that their measure includes important new provisions that go beyond just spending money. The measure includes new requirements to register researchers who work with any of the 36 most dangerous biotoxins, as well as new rules and requirements to safeguard the nation's food and water supplies>>